RE: Driven: BBR Mazda MX-5 Anniversary Edition

RE: Driven: BBR Mazda MX-5 Anniversary Edition

Author
Discussion

youngsyr

14,742 posts

191 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
Neil G60 said:
youngsyr said:
Looks and sounds great from the article, but £12K is still very strong money for a very old second hand car, even if it is tuned with a few nice parts added.

You could pick up an Evo VIII MR for that kind of money.
You could pick up a Evo for that money. But the roof doesn't come off an Evo and you have to service it ever 500yds. Such a different car in every way.

What you will get is a well thought out and engineered car based on a highly-regarded classic designed for use in the UK. With a warranty. I think it's a great concept.

Edited by Neil G60 on Thursday 16th December 13:22
Granted it's a different car, but you can pick up a decent Mk1 MX-5 for under £2K, so what are you paying the extra £10K for?

The obvious answer is the additioanl performance, so I was merely pointing out that you could get an alternative, 10+ year younger car that would blow the doors off this "special edition" in pretty much every aspect of performance.

Don't get me wrong, the concept of turbocharging is sound (although personally I'd opt for a supercharger as it's more in keeping with the design of the car), it's just the price that is pretty much indefensible.

CTE

1,488 posts

239 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
Why don`t Lotus stop dreaming about making supercars and make some real money making a car like this...afterall it was their car to start with! Anyhow, I am seriously tempted and whilst I think the kit is strongly priced, I do not think £8k or thereabouts is too much to pay for a well developed, reliable car which will give you more smiles per mile than nearly anything...unless of course you like driving computer controlled playstation japanese machinery...might aswell just play with a playstation.

robm3

4,927 posts

226 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
Love these sort of 'retro reworks' especially in smaller cars.

Should be more of them out there such as:

BMW E30's
Peugeot 205's

What else??



anything fast

983 posts

163 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
youngsyr said:
Neil G60 said:
youngsyr said:
Looks and sounds great from the article, but £12K is still very strong money for a very old second hand car, even if it is tuned with a few nice parts added.

You could pick up an Evo VIII MR for that kind of money.
You could pick up a Evo for that money. But the roof doesn't come off an Evo and you have to service it ever 500yds. Such a different car in every way.

What you will get is a well thought out and engineered car based on a highly-regarded classic designed for use in the UK. With a warranty. I think it's a great concept.

Edited by Neil G60 on Thursday 16th December 13:22
Granted it's a different car, but you can pick up a decent Mk1 MX-5 for under £2K, so what are you paying the extra £10K for?

The obvious answer is the additioanl performance, so I was merely pointing out that you could get an alternative, 10+ year younger car that would blow the doors off this "special edition" in pretty much every aspect of performance.

Don't get me wrong, the concept of turbocharging is sound (although personally I'd opt for a supercharger as it's more in keeping with the design of the car), it's just the price that is pretty much indefensible.
you can defend the price, for what it is, its reasonable. I have seen such worthless stboxes at car shows (that people have spent 20 grand on.._) like crappy corsa's, fiesta's saxo'ss etc, at least the mx5 is a proper classic and the BBR Turbo is a very rare and sought after car, so if u like one, well worth having. And as for Evos' etc, they have nothing in common with MX5's, like comparing fish with eggs... the point is there is a following for the MX5 and clean early ones command good money so its not a bad deal. For someone whos not keen on a MX5 they wont get it... I personaly dont really like the boggo MX5, but a BBR turbo.. i like, in fact i like it a lot!

djt100

1,734 posts

184 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all

Benjc

677 posts

247 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
anything fast said:
youngsyr said:
Neil G60 said:
youngsyr said:
Looks and sounds great from the article, but £12K is still very strong money for a very old second hand car, even if it is tuned with a few nice parts added.

You could pick up an Evo VIII MR for that kind of money.
You could pick up a Evo for that money. But the roof doesn't come off an Evo and you have to service it ever 500yds. Such a different car in every way.

What you will get is a well thought out and engineered car based on a highly-regarded classic designed for use in the UK. With a warranty. I think it's a great concept.

Edited by Neil G60 on Thursday 16th December 13:22
Granted it's a different car, but you can pick up a decent Mk1 MX-5 for under £2K, so what are you paying the extra £10K for?

The obvious answer is the additioanl performance, so I was merely pointing out that you could get an alternative, 10+ year younger car that would blow the doors off this "special edition" in pretty much every aspect of performance.

Don't get me wrong, the concept of turbocharging is sound (although personally I'd opt for a supercharger as it's more in keeping with the design of the car), it's just the price that is pretty much indefensible.
you can defend the price, for what it is, its reasonable. I have seen such worthless stboxes at car shows (that people have spent 20 grand on.._) like crappy corsa's, fiesta's saxo'ss etc, at least the mx5 is a proper classic and the BBR Turbo is a very rare and sought after car, so if u like one, well worth having. And as for Evos' etc, they have nothing in common with MX5's, like comparing fish with eggs... the point is there is a following for the MX5 and clean early ones command good money so its not a bad deal. For someone whos not keen on a MX5 they wont get it... I personaly dont really like the boggo MX5, but a BBR turbo.. i like, in fact i like it a lot!
I think you'll find a lot of those who are in the market for a Turbo MX5 wont be in the market for the new BBR either.

£5k will buy you a very well sorted turbo'd MX5 - here is an example...

http://www.mx5nutz.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=6...

Remove the wing and you have 260hp rocket.

Is the white BBR one really worth £7k more? Not in my book.

dlc74

37 posts

174 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
This is absolutely superb - bags of character, brilliant value and damn quick! Superb, just love it.

Now, where's my cheque book!?

Adam Towler

62 posts

220 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
hornetrider said:
Numbskulls!!!!

Did you go to BBR and not drive the st hot off the press newly Cosworth supercharged Mk3???? ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I did drive it and there will be a review on here soon.

hornetrider

63,161 posts

204 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
Adam Towler said:
hornetrider said:
Numbskulls!!!!

Did you go to BBR and not drive the st hot off the press newly Cosworth supercharged Mk3???? ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I did drive it and there will be a review on here soon.
Brilliant, thank you. When will said review be available for the masses? smile

youngsyr

14,742 posts

191 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
Benjc said:
anything fast said:
youngsyr said:
Neil G60 said:
youngsyr said:
Looks and sounds great from the article, but £12K is still very strong money for a very old second hand car, even if it is tuned with a few nice parts added.

You could pick up an Evo VIII MR for that kind of money.
You could pick up a Evo for that money. But the roof doesn't come off an Evo and you have to service it ever 500yds. Such a different car in every way.

What you will get is a well thought out and engineered car based on a highly-regarded classic designed for use in the UK. With a warranty. I think it's a great concept.

Edited by Neil G60 on Thursday 16th December 13:22
Granted it's a different car, but you can pick up a decent Mk1 MX-5 for under £2K, so what are you paying the extra £10K for?

The obvious answer is the additioanl performance, so I was merely pointing out that you could get an alternative, 10+ year younger car that would blow the doors off this "special edition" in pretty much every aspect of performance.

Don't get me wrong, the concept of turbocharging is sound (although personally I'd opt for a supercharger as it's more in keeping with the design of the car), it's just the price that is pretty much indefensible.
you can defend the price, for what it is, its reasonable. I have seen such worthless stboxes at car shows (that people have spent 20 grand on.._) like crappy corsa's, fiesta's saxo'ss etc, at least the mx5 is a proper classic and the BBR Turbo is a very rare and sought after car, so if u like one, well worth having. And as for Evos' etc, they have nothing in common with MX5's, like comparing fish with eggs... the point is there is a following for the MX5 and clean early ones command good money so its not a bad deal. For someone whos not keen on a MX5 they wont get it... I personaly dont really like the boggo MX5, but a BBR turbo.. i like, in fact i like it a lot!
I think you'll find a lot of those who are in the market for a Turbo MX5 wont be in the market for the new BBR either.

£5k will buy you a very well sorted turbo'd MX5 - here is an example...

http://www.mx5nutz.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=6...

Remove the wing and you have 260hp rocket.

Is the white BBR one really worth £7k more? Not in my book.
This is exactly my point, a turbo'ed MX-5 is very appealing, just not at £12K or even at £8K.

Also, anything fast may like to check out "my garage" to see that I have a little experience about this subject. wink

Edited by youngsyr on Thursday 16th December 14:41

Snoggledog

6,948 posts

216 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
This is what a MX-5 engine bay should look like.


suffolk009

5,344 posts

164 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
I think its great. I've done 30k miles in the first year I've owned an H reg import. I paid £900 for it. Alternator failed on me and the cambelt snapped (ignore those service intervals at your peril). Other than that with just a little bit of tidying up its been great. Took it to Switzerland in January and LeMans in June. Heaps of fun. Could do with a bit more power, well yes. Of course.

Surely the people comparing it to an EVO miss the point of driving this car. I've had Imprezas, and take the kids to school in a Legacy GTB, but if there no more than two people going anywhere I'll always pick up the mazda keys. I can't believe that all petrolheads don't have one in their garage. It's a must and a modern classic.

youngsyr

14,742 posts

191 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
Snoggledog said:
This is what a MX-5 engine bay should look like.

I prefer:


Benjc

677 posts

247 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
Screw it.

For £12k you could have:


HereBeMonsters

14,180 posts

181 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
So...Elise, or this..?

johnhenry

207 posts

173 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
traditional 'british' sports car layout, decent power, rwd, little in the way of safety...for £8000...better start saving

ambuletz

10,691 posts

180 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
love it. hope someone here ends up owning one and posting pics, and more places do reviews. surely more tuner companies should do something like this. perhaps a rover mini cooper, restored and tuned to 100-150hp.
would BBS rustproof all the panels? the general consensus is that rust is the big issue on the mk1 mx-5

Andy T

468 posts

227 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
I've got a 1993 1.6 mx5 which i bought for £1700 then I stuck a turbo, intercooler, larger injectors etc in it for less than £2k (new), got some coilovers on it and a few other bits and it's by far the best handling, cheapest, most reliable and fun car i've ever had. And i've ahad a few nice cars. It's pretty damn quick too. Mines tuned up to around the 180 bhp mark and It'll embarass most mildly hot stuff!

My point is the BBR is great if you wanna pay that for one. But you can do exactly the same thing for much less.

pmanson

13,374 posts

252 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
ambuletz said:
would BBS rustproof all the panels? the general consensus is that rust is the big issue on the mk1 mx-5
Rear arches and sills tend to be the pain culprits... if you keep the drain holes clear it shouldn't be an issue.

Builder

1,225 posts

241 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
Yup! There are many V8 examples now...Chevy and Ford. You can turbo and supercharge, put nitrous and intercoolers spraying water, etc. There's no replacement for displacement. That said, here's a really wild tube-chassis 2.0L Miata drag car with 28# of boost making over 800 HP (video) and a nice V8 example:

http://www.globalnetspace.com/miata/